In the above-referenced parent patent applications, a digital video recorder was disclosed which has intelligent video information management capabilities. According to one notable feature of the disclosed recorder, the recorder stores program software corresponding to a number of different image content analysis algorithms which allow the recorder to detect predetermined features of video image streams. The image content analysis algorithms, which may also be referred to as "filters" or "tools", are selectable by a user of the recorder and can be applied either to a video signal stream or streams arriving as an input for the recorder ("live analysis") or can be used to aid in detecting features in a video data stream that has previously been stored in the recorder ("tool-based searching").